It is always a fun game to guess what kind of car you would be in if a certain song were to be playing on the stereo especially if that certain song typifies angst ridden indie rock from the west coast of the US of A. The band that created the songs on the stereo tonight is Fime and their EP is called “Outside”.
The flat line approach of early American style indie rock is much in evidence here – at least in production terms anyway – but these four songs throw in enough surprises to make you question whether these songs are actually as simplistic as their volume might suggest. “Tuckered Out”, for example, even has melody hidden amongst the full-on flight into the darkness that defines this band with some, almost trendy, female vocals providing the contrast to all the musclebound guitar nihilism. That nihilism, however, also provides the bone crushing seasoning to turn “Hover Hand” into a tortured anthem for our dystopian times while the depleted optimism of “Work Friends” is more than enough to make you dust off all those alienation inspired grunge rock albums from your collection for one more trip through the retro eight track of despair.
So, the car? I go for an ’65 Chevy Impala SS that has a stereo that is worth more than the car itself, has seen better days but is only ever driven at night for, no matter where you go in that car, you will always be driving towards the sunrise with Fime’s “Outside! EP turned up to the max.